Robin Anderson, 31, is an alumna of MU’s School of Music and has lived in Columbia ever since she graduated. Anderson started out in classical music but crossed over into singing, songwriting and experimenting with pop.

For singer-songwriter Robin Anderson, her delicate ballad “January Song” evokes the optimism she experienced when she was recovering from knee surgery. This collaboration between the two artists demonstrates that Columbia offers fertile ground for creative artists.

Bethel Baptist Church will host the program “Be the Love,” featuring music, art, spoken word and dance performances. Funds will go to the congregation’s effort to become, in its words, an “arts magnet church.”

Audra Sergel, her jazz quintet and six vocalists known as the Elan Singers will gather ’round the J.W. “Blind” Boone Piano for the third session of the Boone Piano Concert Series at the Boone County Historical Society

“Asked to describe herself, Robin Anderson paused to think. She’s 29 and married. She’s blond. “I’m a music teacher,” she said and laughed. “I got tired of the way people reacted when I say I’m a musician.”

“I’m a huge fan of both Sergel and Anderson. Anderson is the music director at Bethel Church, so I’ve had the benefit of a front row seat for over a year….my stay in Columbia is enhanced by each of them. They are a gift to the city.”

“Anderson has been teaching at the school for three years. She is in charge of coaching students who are part of the Jane Froman Singers, a choral ensemble dedicated to the performance of Renaissance to contemporary music.”

“She told them she was going to learn to hoop. Although some were skeptical, she devised a practice schedule and set to work, giving them progress updates along the way via videotapes. That way, Anderson said she could show them an end result, then step back and teach them how to break up the steps to reach that point. She could relate to their challenges and teach her students how to move past them.”

“The group is comprised of 16 actors and singers in the Columbia area. They hold monthly events where they perform vignettes at the Berlin Theatre. This event will be a compilation of famous Broadway songs about love and life just in time for everyone’s (least) favorite holiday.”